


worst nightmare

by spice_ghouls



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, M/M, buckle up folks I have this all planned out and it's gonna be a long one, i'm going to try to finish this fic by new years, mentions and depictions of possession, primarily an indruck fic but there's lots of danbrey in here too because You Can't Stop Me, the rating will go up to E eventually but not for a while because it's pretty slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-09-19 17:14:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17005782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spice_ghouls/pseuds/spice_ghouls
Summary: The Pine Guard finds themself faced with an abomination capable of things they've never seen before, and in the process, some of our intrepid heroes in Kepler might just find their greatest fears - and blossoming emotions towards each other - exploited in the worst way possible.Canon divergent, occurs after they defeat the tree abomination from the third arc.





	1. a prologue is related, a vision is seen, and a narrow escape is executed

The abomination was quiet as it moved into Amnesty lodge through an open window in the kitchen. 

There were so many people here, so many minds, nightmares ripe for the harvesting, but which one to possess? If the abomination had had lips, it would have licked them in anticipation.

The sasquatch? No, not yet, its worst nightmare looked like fun, but the abomination would start out slow, would see how much damage it could do before ruining bigger things. The leader, the one known as Mama? No. Too complicated, it would take ages to sort through her worries to find her worst nightmare. But there was one here who was absolutely dripping with fear - the magic-filled human, curled up asleep in her room with some sort of lagomorph creature by her side. The abomination flitted up the stairs, its many gaseous limbs dissipating and reforming as it floated, ever changing, fluid, _hungry_.

It entered the girl's room.

Oh, yes. What a delicious worst nightmare to bring about. The girl was so strong in power, and yet so afraid of not being able to control it. She held within her such a visceral fear of her powers hurting someone that the monster could almost smell it. The abominaton lowered itself over her bed, pushing the green quilt off of her carelessly, and seeped in through her open mouth.

It jerked her body upright, and flicked a few sparks out across her fingers experimentally, adjusting to the dimensions of the vessel.

Oh, this was perfect.

The abomination swung the girl's legs out of her bed, and then maneuvered upright awkwardly. No time to get used to this body, this awkward motion would have to suffice. 

It had things to do.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

In his vision, everything was on fire. Duck stumbled forward, and with eyes burning from the smoke, glanced around him, squinting through the blaze. The room was small, and... _vaguely familiar_ , Duck thought. It took him a moment longer to place it, as he'd only been there a handful of times, but when he did, his breath caught in his throat. He was standing in the middle of Indrid's Winnebago, and everything was going up in flames.

He took another step, and his foot hit something. When he looked down to see what it was, he realized with horror that it wasn't some _thing_ he'd tripped over, but some _one_. The body of Indrid Cold was on fire, limbs and torso charred beyond recognition. His white hair was burning, too, wreathing his red spectacles in flames. Duck stared for a moment, aghast. And then the corpse opened its lifeless eyes and spoke, with charred lips and a sickening grin.

"Better hurry."

One long arm, burned to the bone, pointed at the clock mounted on the wall, which was somehow untouched by the inferno consuming the rest of the trailer. The clock read, in blinking green:

3:30 AM.

And then Duck jolted awake, with the taste of smoke still thick on his tongue. God fucking damn it. His heart was pounding, and he grabbed his phone and turned it on,  
looking for the time.

3:07 AM.

 _Fuck._

He had less than thirty minutes to get to Indrid's trailer and warn him before whatever his vision was warning him of that was going to burn it down, did so.

He didn't have time to change out of his pajamas. He barely even had time to grab his keys. He yanked Beacon from his underwear drawer and ran out of his apartment so quickly he nearly tripped over his cat in the dark, who meowed indignantly. He sprinted down the stairs of the apartment complex, skipping every other step, and ran out into the parking lot, where he found his car just where he had left it. He fumbled with the keys for a moment. 

The car's engine sputtered to life, and Duck sped out of the parking lot, wincing at the noise of the tires screeching in protest. He sped off down the road towards the trailer park where he knew Indrid's Winnebago to be. He pulled out his phone and checked the time as he drove. 

3:16 AM.

"Duck New-tonnnn," came a familiar monotone, nasal voice from the passenger seat. "Why are we going out this late? Have you finally decided to pursue your destiny, Duck Newton? It seems like an odd hour to be doing this, Duck N-"

"Beacon, if you don't shut the fuck up, I promise you I'll start the day tomorrow by drivin' to the lake and throwin' you in," Duck growled. 

"Yes, yes, you've said that before, and I still appear to be here and not in the lake," Beacon drawled, but there was a tone in Duck's voice that was just serious enough that Beacon knew not to push it. Duck checked the time.

3:21 AM.

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck. Please, don't let me be too late_ , Duck thought. 

His driving was growing more reckless, and he payed no heed to the spedometer as it crept up to ten, then fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit. Finally, he saw the entrance to the trailer park, and slammed on the brakes.

3:25 AM.

Duck put the car in park and jumped out of the driver seat, Beacon in hand. He saw no threat in sight, but there were still five minutes until 3:30. He ran to the door of Indrid's trailer and banged on the cold metal with his fist. "INDRID?"

There was silence in the trailer park for a moment, save for the rustling of branches in the wind, and then the door to the Winnebago swung open, revealing a disheveled Indrid Cold wiping sleep from his eyes behind red glasses, his hair messy with bedhead.

"Duck? What brings you here at such an... early hour?" he asked, voice rough.

"I had a vision. Indrid, in -" Duck glanced at his phone "-four minutes, I saw this trailer on fire, and you burned to death. 'N I wasn't about to let that happen."

Indrid scrunched up his nose, and his eyes went distant for a moment in a way that Duck assumed meant he was scanning the future. Then Indrid's eyebrows furrowed.

"Duck, I ... There appears to be something very wrong with my future sight. I can see this trailer going up in flames, yes, in almost every future, but I can't see what causes it, and when I try to look, there's just static. It's like I'm watching an explosion, but I can't see the bomb that caused it, just the resulting damage."

He looked deeply troubled, biting his lower lip.

"We can figure that out later, but we need to get you to -" 

"-safety right now," Indrid finished with Duck, who placed a hand on Indrid's shoulder and gently urged him out of the structure. 

Which was good, because not a moment later, the front part of the Winnebago exploded.

Duck and Indrid were both knocked back by the blast, Indrid landing on top of Duck so Duck took the brunt of the fall. They both scrambled to their feet, and when they had righted themselves, Duck was the first to spot the figure silhouetted against the flames.

Standing there, one hand still flickering with sparks and extended towards the trailer, was Aubrey. Well, Duck thought it was Aubrey - something was... wrong. She was carrying herself differently, her back arched at an unnatural angle, and as the flames licked across her palm, she let out a horrid, guttural laugh, far too unnaturally deep to have emanated from her. 

Duck watched, frozen in horror, as something milky-white and glowing spilled of Aubrey's nose and mouth, twisting into a gaseous, many-limbed form as it did so. The thing moved impossibly quickly, darting away from the scene before Duck could blink. At the exact moment that the abomination had fully exited her body, Aubrey collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had just been cut. 

For a moment, neither of them moved. Then they both sprung into action, Indrid ducking inside his burning trailer to retrieve a fire extinguisher, with which he made quick work of the flames licking at the front half of the Winnebago. Duck ran to Aubrey and dropped to his knees, checking for a pulse, and breathing a sigh of relief when he found one. He lifted her unconscious form up carefully as Indrid turned back to look at him, breathing hard.

"She's alive. And clearly, we've got an abomination on our hands. We've gotta get her back to Amnesty lodge, there's medical supplies there. Can you drive?" Duck asked.

Indrid shook his head. 

"Ok. You sit in the back-" 

"-with Aubrey," Indrid finished the statement at the same time as Duck. 

For a moment, Indrid got that far-away look in his eyes again, peering into the future. "That does seem to be the best course of action, yes," he replied distractedly.

"Okay, here, I'll lay her across the backseat, and - are you okay?" Duck asked, looking back at Indrid, who was, in fact, trembling slightly, and standing with his arms wrapped around his torso, staring down at the ground.

"Sorry, I - yes, it just hit me that I would've burned to death if you hadn't woken me up when you had. You saved my life, Duck."

Duck blinked, and for the first time in a very long time, staring into the frightened eyes of the Sylvan in front of him, Duck was suddenly very, very grateful for his visions. "Don't mention it," he said, and hefted Aubrey's diminuitive frame into the backseat of his car, where Indrid hesitantly joined her.

As Duck hopped back into the front seat and pulled out of the trailer park, he turned to look at Indrid.

"I may not have your vision of the future, but I do know one thing," Duck muttered.

"What's that?" Indrid asked - probably to be polite, seeing as he almost certainly already knew what Duck was about to say.

"Mama's gonna be fucking pissed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos fuel the Fic Machine


	2. someone wakes up, and temporary sleeping arrangements are made

Aubrey regained consciousness in bits and pieces. She panicked for a second, stirring as much as she could manage in a feeble attempt to fight back when she felt her body lifted by a strong pair of hands, but then relaxed a moment later: she smelled pine, and wood smoke, and earth. There was only one person she knew who smelled like that, and she knew she was safe with Duck. She felt herself being carried, first through cold outdoors, and then into a warm room that felt familiar.

She heard muffled voices, and after a moment, could make them out. Duck was shouting for Mama. Hah. That was silly, it was dark, Mama was asleep. Why was he calling for Mama?

The first memory to return to her was fear, and then fire - she remembered terror. And smoke. 

What the fuck had happened?

There were more voices. Louder this time. Aubrey wished everyone would quiet down, because her head hurt very much, please and thank you.

And then she was being set down somewhere soft, and a new pair of hands was on her, cupping her cheek.

"What the fuck happened to her? Anyone wanna explain what the fuck is happenin', cause I need to be brought up t' speed, oh let's see, five fuckin' minutes ago," Mama's voice said, somewhere, though it felt like she was hearing it from a million miles away.

Aubrey opened her mouth to tell Mama that it was going to be okay, that she didn't quite know what had happened but that it wasn't their fault she didn't think - or, at least, she tried to. What actually came out of her mouth was a groan that died in her throat. She heard Duck speaking hurriedly, a serious note in his voice, but she could barely make out every fifth word.

Her legs hurt like she had been running for miles. And she remembered, then, that she had been. She remembered it all.

She remembered jolting awake, her body controlled by something else, something _other_ , and trying to move or make a sound, but she couldn't. She remembered being forced to leave the lodge, limbs walking at odd and unnatural angles, and she remembered sprinting with no regard for what she was tripping over towards the trailer park.

And she remembered the thing using her powers, she remembered lighting Indrid's trailer on fire. She remembered trying to scream, trying to warn him, trying to do something, anything, but being unable. And then... nothing. 

Indrid was dead. He had to be. And it was her fault. Her powers had killed someone she cared about. _Again_.

It was that thought that brought her fully back into consciousness with a scream. 

She sat up, ignoring the pain that shot through all of her limbs when she did so, and started babbling, trying to explain. "I didn't mean to, it was the abomination, Indrid's dead and it's my fault for not being awake to fight it off, it used my powers somehow-"

Aubrey looked around, taking in her surroundings for the first time. She was laying on one of the couches in the lobby of the Amnesty lodge, and Duck, Indrid, and Mama were all standing over her. _Wait - Indrid was alive?_

Mama sat down on the couch next to her. "Shhh, It's okay Aubrey, You jus' take it easy and tell us what you remember. Indrid ain't dead, Duck made sure of that."

Aubrey swallowed thickly. "Something took - something took over my body, Mama. And it tried to kill Indrid using my powers."

Mama nodded for her to go on, but Duck saw the stricken look on her face and jumped in. _Thank god._

"Mama, we saw the thing leave her body and that's when she collapsed. It looked like - well, it was all white and it had all these limbs that kept disappearin' and reappearin'. It was like watchin' smoke move. It got away before Indrid or I could do anything."

Indrid spoke up. "There's something else, too. When I tried to look into the future when Duck warned me of my impending fiery doom, I couldn't see Aubrey or the abomination within her. You see, when I look at the future, it's like seeing a thousand TVs at once, all playing different versions of what could potentially happen. This was like..." he paused for a moment, eyebrows knitting together worriedly as he thought. "It was like seeing static on all the TVs. I could see my trailer burning, but when I tried to look at what caused it, in every future I examined, my sight just fizzled out."

Mama bit her lip, and folded her hands on her lap. "Now that's concernin'. We know this thing can possess people at will, and that it can block Indrid's future sight. I think we're safe to say this is an abomination, sure as I'm sittin' here. And from the sound of it, it's a pretty fuckin' bad one."

 _It could possess people at will._

Aubrey looked down at her hands, and let a flame dance from her thumb over to her pinky. That meant it could find her again, at any time, and make her use magic to hurt people. It could burn Amnesty lodge if it wanted, or raze the whole town of Kepler to the ground. It could burn Duck from the inside out, or Mama or Indrid or Ned or - or Dani. Her chest tightened at the last one, and she balled her hands into fists, extinguishing the flame she had been fiddling with. She stood up suddenly, and started walking towards the stairs to the Lodge's secret basement, ignoring the pain in her body as she did so.

"Aubrey, where the fuck're you goin?" Mama called after her.

She turned around to face the three of them staring at her. "It can possess anyone. It could possess me again, Mama. Over my dead body am I letting that thing use me to hurt anyone else. Duck saved Indrid somehow, this time. Next time we might not be so lucky. So I'm locking myself in the panic room, and I'm going to stay there until this thing is gone."

Mama stood up from the couch. "No the fuck you ain't. I am so sorry that it used you like that, but we need your help to fight it."

Aubrey shook her head, and when she spoke, her voice came out quieter. "You don't understand. What happened back there? My powers hurting people because I can't fucking control them? _Was my worst goddamn nightmare_ , and as long as there is breath in my lungs I'm not letting it happen again."

"Wait, I-" Mama began, but Aubrey was already gone. "Shit."

Mama turned back to face Indrid and Duck with a sigh. "I'm gonna go have a talk with her. You two go get some rest. We're gonna need all our energy to fight this thing, which means you should go home. Try an' get some shut-eye."

Indrid frowned. "Part of my trailer is burned. I hate to impose, but is there any chance I could spend the night here?"

Mama scrunched her face up. "Uh, maybe, I don't know if we have any spare rooms right now, but there's the couch. So long as you keep away from Stern. Or actually, maybe you oughta crash at Duck's place, that might be easier, if Duck doesn't mind."

For some reason, Duck felt his heart beat faster as Mama suggested that Indrid stay with him, but he nodded. "Sure, Indrid, if you'd prefer."

Indrid's eyes glazed over for a moment. 

"There are several futures in which I stay here and Agent Stern discovers the existance of Sylvans because of me. So, I'll go with Duck," he said, looking expectantly at the forest ranger.

"Um, yeah, works just fine with me," Duck replied. Maybe it was just the firelight playing tricks on him, but Indrid could've sworn Duck was blushing. Huh. 

_Probably just the light_ , Indrid decided as they walked together out to Duck's car and drove back towards Duck's apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos fuel the Fic Machine


	3. in which mama is tired, and someone else is worried.

Mama had had some fuckin’ shitty days in her lifetime.

There was the time Barclay had nearly died hunting an abomination, and the time Amnesty lodge had been forcibly vacated because of a gas leak. There had been times when she herself was injured or in danger, and times when the secrecy and safety of her whole world had rested squarely upon her shoulders.

So when she walked back to her office after Indrid and Duck had left, mumbling that today had been “the worst fuckin’ day ever”, it meant something, coming from her.

She plopped down into her plush office chair, which was coming apart at the seams and leaking stuffing in several spots. Despite having told Indrid and Duck to get some sleep, she knew that even if she tried, there would be no possibility of her catching even a wink before this thing was dead as a doornail. And so she set to work, going through Thacker’s old filing system looking for anything similar to this abomination.

In the files, Mama found entries for every kind of abomination under the sun, and as she searched, she was drawn into bouts of nostalgia with every one she read through. She remembered some of these fights fondly, seeing herself more youthful and spry in her mind’s eye, taking down abominations with Thacker and Barclay. Some files brought with them twinges of sadness and heartache at the losses they’d suffered. So many of her friends, lost at the hands of these monsters. The Pine Guard’s task was a thankless and Sisyphian one, repeating and evolving endlessly, and yet she knew that in the end, she was doing a good thing. They just had to keep beating the abominations, and her friends’ sacrifices would be worth something. All of these thoughts ran through Mama’s mind as she sorted through files. Throughout the emotional rollercoaster, however, she had no luck in locating anything even remotely similar to what they were facing. 

She sighed, and rested her chin in her hand. _Maybe sleep isn’t such a terrible idea, after all_ , she thought, eyelids beginning to droop.

Just as Mama had made up her mind to give up and continue the search in the morning with fresh eyes, she heard a quiet knock at the door.

“C’mon in,” she said, looking up to see Dani slip into the room.

The taller blonde woman wore a concerned look on her face. “Mama, is everything alright? I saw Indrid an’ Duck leaving earlier, and you look worried, not to mention that you’re still up at this hour, which means something must be terribly wrong.”

Mama let out a laugh that turned into a sigh midway through. “Goddamn, Dani, do I have a lotta shit to catch you up on. We’ve got a new abomination.”

Dani nodded, the confusion written on her face giving way to resolve. Abominations were something she was familiar with. “Is it a bad one?”

Mama nodded, lacing her hands together under her chin. “Have you ever heard all those human stories about kids gettin’ possessed by the devil and makin' them do shit? It’s kinda like that. An’ during the night, it possessed Aubrey and tried to make her burn down Indrid’s place, out in that shitty-ass trailer park. Made her run all the way there, too.”

Dani’s eyes went wide at the news of Aubrey’s possession. “Shit. Her room is right next to mine, I should’ve been awake, I should’ve heard something - is she okay? Fuck, Mama, I-”

Mama waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, she’s fine, physically. Damn girl got it in her head to lock herself in the panic room once Duck hauled her back here, ‘cause she thinks that’ll keep it from possessing her an’ using her powers to hurt people,” she sighed. “I’m gonna go down and talk to her later, maybe. Risky or not, we need her help to kill this thing.”

Dani shook her head. “Wait. How was Duck involved?”

“Y’know, maybe I should just tell you the whole story.”

“That’d be lovely,” Dani replied, scooting out one of the chairs in the corner of the room and sitting down across the desk from Mama. And Mama related to her the whole tale of Duck’s vision and rescue of Indrid, of Aubrey’s collapse once the thing had left her body, of her slow regaining of consciousness, and of how Aubrey had felt compelled to lock herself in the basement.

When it was all finished, Dani whistled, and leaned back in the chair. “Well,” she said, running one hand through her fair hair, “You weren’t fuckin’ lying when you said it was a bad one.”

Mama nodded. “An’ that’s why I’m in here lookin’ through the old-ass files. Just tryin’ to find something that’ll help us kick this thing’s ass. Or, hell, I’d settle for just anythin’ that helps us understand it.”

“Do you want me to go talk to Aubrey for you?” Dani asked after a moment's thought.

Mama shrugged. “Knock yourself out. I doubt she’ll listen to me, anyways. You migh’ actually have a better shot than me at gettin’ her to come out of there. She likes you, you know.”

Dani averted her gaze, suddenly very interested in a spot on the wood of the desk. “You - I -”

And for the first time since Duck had carried Aubrey’s unconscious body into the lodge that night screaming for help, Mama laughed. “Yeah, yeah. Jus’ go talk to her, ok? You have more sway over her than you know. Now, shoo,” she said good-naturedly.

Dani nodded, face turning a bright shade of scarlet from embarrassment, and stood up to go, putting the chair she’d been sitting in back up against the wall.

“And Dani?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful, okay? We never know when that thing’s gonna turn up again.”

Dani hummed solemnly in assent, then left Mama’s office.

Mama sighed. 

_Shitty, shitty fuckin' day._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first of two chapters I plan on uploading today, so you'll have to forgive me for the brevity of this one.
> 
> Comments and kudos fuel the Fic Machine


	4. a traffic light changes - and other things indrid cold saw coming

The first couple minutes of the car ride passed quietly. Duck assumed that Indrid was probably too tired, or shell-shocked, or busy watching the future to make conversation - perhaps a combination of all three. Either way, Duck became uncomfortable with the silence quickly, and pressed a button on the console which filled the car with old rock music from a CD.

Duck glanced over at Indrid while they were stopped at a red light. The Sylvan’s head was resting on the car window, and he was humming quietly along with the song on the CD. His white hair was still disheveled from the events of the night, and it framed his face flatteringly, a few strands falling over his eyes. Duck then proceeded to roll down his window, suddenly feeling uncomfortably warm.

“The light is going to turn green in exactly two seconds,” Indrid mumbled absentmindedly, snapping Duck out of his thoughts. Sure enough, two seconds later, the light changed, and Duck made a right turn into the parking lot of his apartment complex, turning off the car and cutting off the radio in the middle of Aerosmith’s “Angel”.

“Home sweet-”

“-home”, Indrid said simultaneously. “It’s… nice,” Indrid said, sizing up the apartment building.

Duck laughed. “Naw, you don’t have to lie to make me feel better, Indrid, I’m fully aware that this place is kinda a dump. My apartment’s not too bad though,” he said, looking over and meeting Indrid’s eyes for a second through his red spectacles. _Have the front seat and passenger seat of this car always been this close together?_ They seemed awfully close to Duck, in that moment.

He hopped out of the vehicle, and Indrid followed suit. “I was being entirely genuine, I really do think this place is nice. Especially compared to my trailer, at the moment. I do believe, unless we’re both remembering things incorrectly, that my home is currently mostly in a state of ‘extra crispy’, so I am in no place whatsoever to complain,” Indrid said. Duck laughed.

Indrid felt his stomach flip. He really, really liked the sound of Duck’s laughter, low and hearty, and there was a small part of him that just wanted to usher them into all of the futures where Indrid got to make Duck laugh again.

“Well, I’m glad you like it, then. That makes one of us,” Duck said as they walked inside the building, when he had finally stopped laughing. “The neighbors are nice enough. Mr. Tarkesian could sleep through anything, so it doesn’t really matter, but we should probably try to be quiet going up the stairs.”

Indrid nodded assent, and they climbed several flights of stairs until Duck beckoned him towards a door on the third floor and pulled a key ring from his pocket, fumbling with them for a moment before sticking the right one in the lock. The door swung open, and Duck cleared his throat awkwardly. 

“Well, uh, here we are. The bathroom’s through there, and the part that’s behind that partition is what I call my bedroom, though it’s not really much of a room. The kitchen is just kinda - that corner,” Duck said, pointing, before being interrupted by a loud meow coming from his bedroom. “Oh, yeah. An’ that’s my cat. She’s a sweetheart.”

Duck glanced back at Indrid, and saw that his gaze was fixed not on the fluffy white cat who came bounding out of his bedroom to rub up against Duck before curling up on the couch, but on the pride flag hanging affixed to his bedroom’s divider. Duck held his breath.

“I like the flag,” Indrid said, still not looking away from it. “So, you’re… gay, then?”

Duck almost never felt nervous coming out to people anymore. Sure, West Virginia wasn’t exactly the most openminded state, but he figured if people didn’t accept him, then that was just fine, he could do without them in his life. But for some reason, he found himself struggling to answer Indrid. 

“Well, er, I - that is t’ say, I mean -”

Indrid laughed. “No, I - you don’t have to be ashamed of that. Besides,” he said, “though Sylvans don’t exactly have concepts of sexuality that line up perfectly with human ones, I believe I would be considered ‘gay’ by earth standards as well.”

“Oh - r-really?” Duck stammered. “Well that’s, that’s nice.”

Indrid was internally kicking himself. Had he made Duck uncomfortable? He should have paid more heed to the possibility of that future. He had just been so excited to see the pride flag, because that meant that Duck liked men, which meant that Indrid had a chance - and ohhhh no, that was a dangerous line of logic that he was going to cut off in its tracks. Duck being gay didn’t mean he was interested in him whatsoever.

“So uh,” Duck managed to get out. “We should probably try an’ get some sleep before the sun comes up. You can have -”

“-my room,” Indrid finished with him. “No, I couldn’t impose, I can sleep on the couch.”

Duck shook his head. “Nah, I’ll take the couch. It’s comfy,” he lied, flopping down on it as if to punctuate the statement. 

Indrid shrugged. He didn’t have to look at the possible futures to know that Duck wasn’t going to back down on that one. “Okay. Well - sweet dreams,” Indrid said, stepping back behind the partition into Duck’s bedroom and flipping off the light as he did so. 

Indrid crawled into Duck’s bed, grateful for the mound of warm blankets piled on top of the comforter. It smelled like him, like pine sap and wood shavings and nutmeg. Indrid sighed, breathing in deeply. 

He had promised himself. He had promised himself he was going to stay away from looking at the futures where he and Duck ended up together. If he saw them then he might try to bring them about, and that was dangerous. Getting attached to people like that was dangerous, and it was unethical to guide them into that when he had the benefit of future sight and Duck didn’t. He rolled over onto his back in the bed with a sigh.

He wouldn’t look for long, and he wouldn’t look at how they got there, he told himself. He would stay away from the ‘how’s and the ‘why’s of the the futures where they got together. He would just take a peek at - at how far they went, at whether or not it ended in disaster. 

Images flashed before his mind’s eye at his reluctant behest. 

_He saw himself and Duck kissing, Indrid’s back pressed against the counter of Duck’s kitchen, one hand in Duck’s hair, he saw them making breakfast together and laughing, he saw them holding hands. He saw them sitting together in Amnesty lodge, Indrid laying across Duck’s lap, Duck playing with his hair. He saw them together in this very bed in a tangle of limbs, he saw himself on his knees in front of Duck, looking absolutely debauched, he saw himself whispering filth into Duck’s ear, encouraging him to -_

Nope, nope, nope. He wasn’t watching that. He desperately thought about grandmas, and children dying, and plague in an effort to kill the boner that had been threatening to make an appearance as he was watching those last few visions.

...god. Indrid was totally, irrevocably fucked. He wanted those futures so badly. He wanted Duck to kiss him, wanted Duck to care about him, wanted Duck to do all of those things he saw and more.

The thought came unbidden, though: _Duck deserves better_. The gentle, kind forest ranger who saved Billy, the man who had saved his life not two hours ago, deserved better than some future-addled greasy asshole who couldn’t even save the Silver Bridge, much less be good enough, human enough, spectacular enough to deserve Duck. He just had too much baggage. 

And it was on that happy note that Indrid Cold finally managed to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos fuel the Fic Machine


	5. someone cries, and changes their mind about something.

Dani paused on the stairs down to the basement to collect her thoughts for a moment. She really, really hoped she didn’t say something wrong, or worse, fuck things up between her and Aubrey. God. _Why had she told Mama she would do this, again?_

Aubrey made her nervous enough in the first place - when she was around, Dani always found herself with sweaty palms and a mouth that betrayed her by stammering. Mama had been right, at least on Dani’s end - she really, really liked Aubrey. 

Which is why, she supposed, she had volunteered to be the one to talk to her in the first place. She couldn’t stand to see her hurting.

Dani stepped down into the basement. She walked past where Thacker was sitting on the floor rocking back and forth, and over to the security camera that looked into the panic room. The viewscreen showed Aubrey, huddled into a ball over in the corner with her back to the camera. _Oh, Aubrey._

Dani pressed the button on the viewscreen to talk. “H - Hey Aubrey. Mind if I come in?”

Aubrey looked over her shoulder up at the camera, startled to hear her voice. “Depends, who is it?”

She took a deep breath. “It’s Dani.”

Aubrey’s face softened considerably. “Yeah, ok. Let me get the door open, hang on a sec.” She stood up, wincing at the pain that shot through her knees as she did so. Almost as if she were in a trance, she walked robotically over to the control panel and punched in the code to open the door, then sat back down on the floor. 

Dani tenatively stepped inside, and as she did so, Aubrey reached up and punched the button to close the door behind her. It slid shut with a mechanical hiss. For a moment, neither of them spoke, just stared at each other, each sizing the other up.

Then Aubrey looked away, staring straight ahead. “So. I take it Mama sent you to come talk me out of staying down here.”

Dani hesitated a moment, then sat down next to her. “Actually, I came to make sure you were okay. I - I can’t even imagine what you must be feeling right now.”

Aubrey glanced up for a second. “Thanks. I’ll be fine.” She took a deep breath. “I just can’t - there’s no way to explain what it felt like. It was like being in the backseat of my own brain, and there was this horrible _thing_ in the driver’s seat instead of me. And it tried to use my powers to kill Indrid.” She swallowed hard. “And then I came back here and Mama was talking about how it could possess anyone it wanted, probably. So that’s why I’m down here. I’m not gonna let it use me like that again because I can’t stand the thought of it taking control of my body and hurting anyone at the Lodge or my friends or - or you. Maybe that makes me a coward, I don’t know,”

Aubrey tucked her knees up to her chin, still staring at the opposite wall. And was surprised a moment later by the feeling of arms wrapping around her.

“I’m so sorry,” Dani whispered, still hugging her.

And with that, Aubrey started crying, silent tears at first that turned into sobs wracking her entire body. Dani didn’t even flinch, just stayed there with her arms wrapped around the shorter girl, not sure what to say or even if she should say anything. 

“Hey. Hey, it’s okay,” Dani murmured. “You lived through an awful, terrible thing that you shouldn’t have had to go through, but you’re safe now, and Indrid is, too, and I am, and so is everyone else. It’s gonna be okay.”

They stayed like that for a minute, Dani whispering reassurances, until Aubrey sat up and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. 

Dani reached into her purse. “Tissue?” 

She accepted one gratefully, and when she spoke, her voice was raw from crying. “What should I do?” she asked. “I mean, I know what Mama wants me to do, but what do you think?”

Dani exhaled slowly and looked up for a moment, trying to put herself in Aubrey’s shoes.

“I wouldn’t blame you if you stayed down here. I don’t think that makes you a coward like you said.”

Aubrey nodded.

“But,” Dani continued, “I think this abomination has shown itself to be pretty damn resourceful. And I think our team would be better off, and we’d kill this thing quicker, if you were to be there with us. And the sooner we kill it, the fewer people have to go through what you did.”

Aubrey sighed and looked down at the tops of her combat boots. “Yeah.”

They sat in silence for a moment. 

“Okay,” Aubrey whispered. “Help me up?”

Dani smiled, and extended her hand, pulling them both to their feet. Aubrey punched in the code to the door once again to let them out.

Aubrey let out a long breath, whistling between her teeth. “I don’t think I’m ready to face Mama just yet. But tell her I’ll be up in a minute.”

Dani nodded. “Take as long as you need. Just be careful, alright? Yell if you need anything.”

Dani hesitated for a moment, then leaned down and planted a kiss on Aubrey’s forehead before turning and heading up the stairs, not looking back to see the blush quickly spreading across Aubrey’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all of us who write Dani fic despite the fact that Griffin has yet to give her even one (1) canonical personality trait besides 'aubrey thinks she's cute'? braver than any US marine.
> 
> Will probably post another chapter before the day is over. Comments and kudos fuel the Fic Machine.


	6. [author comment]

Hey guys. I know I said I was going to finish this fic by New Years, but then my private high school found out that I'm a lesbian and kicked me out, which effectively turned my whole life upside down. I'm going to finish this eventually but this past month and a half has been spent figuring out how I'm going to finish my senior year online and taking community college classes. I swear, I wouldn't have abandoned this fic for such a long time if it hadn't been for shit going down in my own life. I appreciate your patience with me while I'm trying to do this.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi at my tumblr, @spice-ghouls :)
> 
> People whomst leave nice comments are the light of my life


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